Background Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a public health problem that is associated with deleterious consequences such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (1). Recent estimates suggest that more than 150 million people are chronically infected with the virus and over 500 000 subjects die annually of the infection (2). With the approval of direct-acting antivirals for the treatment of HCV, outstanding progress has been made that made the elimination of the virus feasible (3). Successful treatment with the achievement of sustained virologic response (SVR) reduces the risk of complications such as cirrhosis and cancer. One of the challenges to treatment is the risk of late relapse after finishing the treatment. The prevalence of HCV in Iraq has been studied thoroughly and it has been reported to be low in all regions of the country (4-7). The most common HCV genotype in Iraq is genotype 1 followed by genotype 4 (8). Additionally, reports from our country showed a very high SVR rate in patients with hemoglobinopathy and end-stage kidney diseases (9,10). The aim of this study was to investigate the relapse rate of HCV 36 months after the completion of the treatment Materials and Methods Patients Annually, invitations were sent to patients who were previously infected with HCV and completed treatment course successfully as defined by negative RT-PCR results 12 weeks after the end of treatment in patients who received direct-acting antiviral therapy. This was performed for 3 years. HBsAg and HIV ELISA Commercial ELISA kit (DIA.PRO Diagnostic Bioprobes ELISA kit, Italy) was utilized to test HBsAg and HIV positivity. RNA Extraction HCV nucleic acid was extracted using QIAamp RNA Extraction Kit (Qiagen) following the manufacturer's instructions for automatic extraction in QIAcube extractor (Qiagen). Then, the purity and concentration of RNA were measured by NanoDrop. HCV Quantification and Genotyping Nucleic acid amplification was conducted using artus HCV RG-RT PCR Kit and was run on a Rotor-Gene

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic condition caused by relative lack of insulin due to impaired insulin secretion or insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of poor glycemic control in Zakho city and to explore the modifiable risk factors that may help controlling the disease. Materials and Methods We recruited patients with known history of diabetes receiving oral anti-diabetic medications. Those patients were registered in Zakho Diabetes center with regular visits. The measurement of anthropometric indices was conducted by trained personnel. Plasma glucose was determined using colorimetric enzymatic method with glucose oxidase. HbA1c concentrations were measured in whole blood samples using high performance liquid chromatography. Results In this study, 520 patients were recruited. The average age of the patients was 56.92±9.62. Among those, 190 were male. The blood sugar was controlled in 122 (23.4%) patients. We found a significant association between sex and HbA1C level (p=0.000; OR=0.4796; CI=0.3175-0.7243). In addition, waist circumference was significantly associated with HbA1C levels (p=0.018; OR=1.02; CI=1.0031-1.0373). Conclusions The vast majority of the patients had uncontrolled diabetes. We found that sex and waist circumference were risk factors for uncontrolled diabetes. Any diabetes controlling program should focus on those two factors.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in Iraq. After the last war in Iraq against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the number of CL cases has peaked particularly in children. International guidelines do not provide an insight on how to choose treatment regimen of CL in children. The aim of this article was to study the efficacy of intralesional sodium stibogluconate (SSG) therapy for school age children with CL. In the period between June 2016 and June 2019, 288 internally displaced school age children (6-12 years old) from Ninewa city were recruited in the study. All patients received intralesional SSG twice a week for a maximum of 12 sessions. All patients were followed up for 12 weeks after the last treatment session. The mean age of recruited patients was 8.6 ± 2 years and 164/288 (56.9%) were male. 202/288 (70.1%) of the patients presented with single lesion. The total number of lesions was 417 of which 141/417 (33.8%) lesion were nodular and the rest were ulcerative lesions. The treatment success rate was (282/288) 97.91%. No significant association was found between age, gender, number of lesions, or duration of lesions and the treatment outcome. Mild local pain, mild bleeding at the site of injection, and itching at the site of injection were the most common side effects. Intralesional SSG infiltrate is effective and minimal side effects. Further studies including clinical trials are required to provide robust data on the efficacy and the safety.

الخلفية والهدف: يعتبر رضى المرضى عن الخدمات الصحية العامل المركزي لتقيم الخدمات الصحية وهو مؤشر مهم لقياس جودة الخدمات ويعتبر عنصر لتحسين العمل. هدف هذا البحث هو لقياس مستوى الرضى لدى المرضى الراقدين في المستشفيات الحكومية في قضاء زاخو . المنهجية: بحث وصفي تم إجرائه في المستشفيات الحكومية في قضاء زاخو. تم فيه إختيار 248 مريض من مستشفى زاخو العام، مستشفى أمراض النسائية والتوليد و مستشفى الطوارئ. باعتبارها المستشفيات الوحيدة التى يرقد فيها المرضى. نموزج من مستفهم محقق من صلاحيته تم استعماله لقياس مستوى رضى المرضى عن الخدمات الصحية المقدمة لهم عن طريق إجراء مقابلة معهم في يوم الخروج من المستشفى. النتائج: أظهرت نتائج البحث في مستشفيات قضاء زاخو ( مستشفى زاخو العام، مستشفى أمراض النسائية والتوليد و مستشفى الطوارئ ) مستوى متوسط من الرضى عن الخدمات الصحية المقدمة من قبل المستشفيات الثلاثة، حيث ان النتائج العامة كانت (3.56 من 5 ). وكان أعلى مستوى للرضى في مستشفى زاخو العام وأدنى مستوى في مستشفى الطوارئ. الاستنتاج: نتائج هذا البحث تشير الى وجوب صرف المزيد من الجهود للتغلب على نقاط الضعف والعقبات بهدف تحسين مستوى الرضى لدى المرضى. والنتائج تقترح ايضا القيام بخطوات جدية و فعالة لرفع مستوى الرضى في مستشفى الطوارئ بشكل خاص .